Electronvolt

Last updated
electronvolt
Unit system Non-SI accepted unit
Unit of energy
SymboleV
Conversions
1 eV in ...... is equal to ...
    joules (SI)   1.602176634×10−19 J. [1]

In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV), also written electron-volt and electron volt, is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating through an electric potential difference of one volt in vacuum. When used as a unit of energy, the numerical value of 1 eV in joules (symbol J) is equal to the numerical value of the charge of an electron in coulombs (symbol C). Under the 2019 revision of the SI, this sets 1 eV equal to the exact value 1.602176634×10−19 J. [1]

Contents

Historically, the electronvolt was devised as a standard unit of measure through its usefulness in electrostatic particle accelerator sciences, because a particle with electric charge q gains an energy E = qV after passing through a voltage of V.

Definition and use

An electronvolt is the amount of energy gained or lost by a single electron when it moves through an electric potential difference of one volt. Hence, it has a value of one volt, which is 1 J/C, multiplied by the elementary charge e = 1.602176634×10−19 C. [2] Therefore, one electronvolt is equal to 1.602176634×10−19 J. [1]

The electronvolt (eV) is a unit of energy, but is not an SI unit. It is a commonly used unit of energy within physics, widely used in solid state, atomic, nuclear and particle physics, and high-energy astrophysics. It is commonly used with SI prefixes milli- (10-3), kilo- (103), mega- (106), giga- (109), tera- (1012), peta- (1015) or exa- (1018), the respective symbols being meV, keV, MeV, GeV, TeV, PeV and EeV. The SI unit of energy is the joule (J).

In some older documents, and in the name Bevatron , the symbol BeV is used, where the B stands for billion . The symbol BeV is therefore equivalent to GeV, though neither is an SI unit.

Relation to other physical properties and units

QuantityUnitSI value of unit
energy eV1.602176634×10−19 J [1]
mass eV/c21.78266192×10−36 kg
momentum eV/c5.34428599×10−28 kg·m/s
temperature eV/kB11604.51812 K
time ħ/eV6.582119×10−16 s
distance ħc/eV1.97327×10−7 m

In the fields of physics in which the electronvolt is used, other quantities are typically measured using units derived from the electronvolt as a product with fundamental constants of importance in the theory are often used.

Mass

By mass–energy equivalence, the electronvolt corresponds to a unit of mass. It is common in particle physics, where units of mass and energy are often interchanged, to express mass in units of eV/c2, where c is the speed of light in vacuum (from E = mc2). It is common to informally express mass in terms of eV as a unit of mass, effectively using a system of natural units with c set to 1. [3] The kilogram equivalent of 1 eV/c2 is:

For example, an electron and a positron, each with a mass of 0.511 MeV/c2, can annihilate to yield 1.022 MeV of energy. A proton has a mass of 0.938 GeV/c2. In general, the masses of all hadrons are of the order of 1 GeV/c2, which makes the GeV/c2 a convenient unit of mass for particle physics: [4]

1 GeV/c2 = 1.78266192×10−27 kg.

The atomic mass constant (mu), one twelfth of the mass a carbon-12 atom, is close to the mass of a proton. To convert to electronvolt mass-equivalent, use the formula:

mu = 1 Da = 931.4941 MeV/c2 = 0.9314941 GeV/c2.

Momentum

By dividing a particle's kinetic energy in electronvolts by the fundamental constant c (the speed of light), one can describe the particle's momentum in units of eV/c. [5] In natural units in which the fundamental velocity constant c is numerically 1, the c may be informally be omitted to express momentum using the unit electronvolt.

The energy-momentum relation in natural units,
E
2
=
p
2
+
m
0
2
{\displaystyle E^{2}=p^{2}+m_{0}^{2}}
, is a Pythagorean equation that can be visualized as a right triangle where the total energy
E
{\displaystyle E}
is the hypotenuse and the momentum
p
{\displaystyle p}
and rest mass
m
0
{\displaystyle m_{0}}
are the two legs. Einstein-triangle-in-natural-units.svg
The energy–momentum relation in natural units, , is a Pythagorean equation that can be visualized as a right triangle where the total energy is the hypotenuse and the momentum and rest mass are the two legs.

The energy–momentum relation in natural units (with ) is a Pythagorean equation. When a relatively high energy is applied to a particle with relatively low rest mass, it can be approximated as in high-energy physics such that an applied energy with expressed in the unit eV conveniently results in a numerically approximately equivalent change of momentum when expressed with the unit eV/c.

The dimension of momentum is T−1LM. The dimension of energy is T−2L2M. Dividing a unit of energy (such as eV) by a fundamental constant (such as the speed of light) that has the dimension of velocity (T−1L) facilitates the required conversion for using a unit of energy to quantify momentum.

For example, if the momentum p of an electron is 1 GeV/c, then the conversion to MKS system of units can be achieved by:

Distance

In particle physics, a system of natural units in which the speed of light in vacuum c and the reduced Planck constant ħ are dimensionless and equal to unity is widely used: c = ħ = 1. In these units, both distances and times are expressed in inverse energy units (while energy and mass are expressed in the same units, see mass–energy equivalence). In particular, particle scattering lengths are often presented using a unit of inverse particle mass.

Outside this system of units, the conversion factors between electronvolt, second, and nanometer are the following:

The above relations also allow expressing the mean lifetime τ of an unstable particle (in seconds) in terms of its decay width Γ (in eV) via Γ = ħ/τ. For example, the
B0
meson
has a lifetime of 1.530(9)  picoseconds, mean decay length is = 459.7 μm, or a decay width of 4.302(25)×10−4 eV.

Conversely, the tiny meson mass differences responsible for meson oscillations are often expressed in the more convenient inverse picoseconds.

Energy in electronvolts is sometimes expressed through the wavelength of light with photons of the same energy:

Temperature

In certain fields, such as plasma physics, it is convenient to use the electronvolt to express temperature. The electronvolt is divided by the Boltzmann constant to convert to the Kelvin scale: where kB is the Boltzmann constant.

The kB is assumed when using the electronvolt to express temperature, for example, a typical magnetic confinement fusion plasma is 15 keV (kiloelectronvolt), which is equal to 174 MK (megakelvin).

As an approximation: kBT is about 0.025 eV (≈ 290 K/11604 K/eV) at a temperature of 20 °C.

Wavelength

Energy of photons in the visible spectrum in eV Colors in eV.svg
Energy of photons in the visible spectrum in eV
Graph of wavelength (nm) to energy (eV) EV to nm vis-en.svg
Graph of wavelength (nm) to energy (eV)

The energy E, frequency ν, and wavelength λ of a photon are related by where h is the Planck constant, c is the speed of light. This reduces to [6] A photon with a wavelength of 532 nm (green light) would have an energy of approximately 2.33 eV. Similarly, 1 eV would correspond to an infrared photon of wavelength 1240 nm or frequency 241.8 THz.

Scattering experiments

In a low-energy nuclear scattering experiment, it is conventional to refer to the nuclear recoil energy in units of eVr, keVr, etc. This distinguishes the nuclear recoil energy from the "electron equivalent" recoil energy (eVee, keVee, etc.) measured by scintillation light. For example, the yield of a phototube is measured in phe/keVee (photoelectrons per keV electron-equivalent energy). The relationship between eV, eVr, and eVee depends on the medium the scattering takes place in, and must be established empirically for each material.

Energy comparisons

Photon frequency vs. energy particle in electronvolts. The energy of a photon varies only with the frequency of the photon, related by the speed of light. This contrasts with a massive particle of which the energy depends on its velocity and rest mass.
Legend
g: gamma rays
MIR: mid-infrared
HF: high freq.
HX: hard X-rays
FIR: far infrared
MF: medium freq.
SX: soft X-rays
radio waves
LF: low freq.
EUV: extreme ultraviolet
EHF: extremely high freq.
VLF: very low freq.
NUV: near ultraviolet
SHF: super high freq.
ULF: ultra-low freq.
visible light
UHF: ultra high freq.
SLF: super low freq.
NIR: near infrared
VHF: very high freq.
ELF: extremely low freq. Light spectrum.svg
Photon frequency vs. energy particle in electronvolts. The energy of a photon varies only with the frequency of the photon, related by the speed of light. This contrasts with a massive particle of which the energy depends on its velocity and rest mass.
Legend
γ: gamma rays MIR: mid-infraredHF: high freq.
HX: hard X-rays FIR: far infraredMF: medium freq.
SX: soft X-rays radio waves LF: low freq.
EUV: extreme ultraviolet EHF: extremely high freq. VLF: very low freq.
NUV: near ultraviolet SHF: super high freq. ULF: ultra-low freq.
visible light UHF: ultra high freq. SLF: super low freq.
NIR: near infrared VHF: very high freq. ELF: extremely low freq.
EnergySource
3×1058  QeV mass-energy of all ordinary matter in the observable universe [10]
52.5  QeVenergy released from a 20  kiloton of TNT equivalent explosion (e.g. the nuclear weapon yield of the Fat Man fission bomb)
12.2  ReVthe Planck energy
10  YeVapproximate grand unification energy
300  EeVfirst ultra-high-energy cosmic ray particle observed, the so-called Oh-My-God particle [11]
62.4  EeVenergy consumed by a 10-watt device (e.g. a typical [12] LED light bulb) in one second (10 W = 10 J/s6.24×1019 eV/s)
2  PeVthe highest-energy neutrino detected by the IceCube neutrino telescope in Antarctica [13]
14 TeVdesigned proton center-of-mass collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider (operated at 3.5 TeV since its start on 30 March 2010, reached 13 TeV in May 2015)
1 TeV0.1602 μJ, about the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito [14]
172 GeV rest mass energy of the top quark, the heaviest elementary particle for which this has been determined
125.1±0.2 GeV rest mass energy of the Higgs boson, as measured by two separate detectors at the LHC to a certainty better than 5 sigma [15]
210 MeVaverage energy released in fission of one Pu-239 atom
200 MeVapproximate average energy released in nuclear fission of one U-235 atom.
105.7 MeV rest mass energy of a muon
17.6 MeVaverage energy released in the nuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium to form He-4; this is 0.41 PJ per kilogram of product produced
2 MeVapproximate average energy released in a nuclear fission neutron released from one U-235 atom.
1.9 MeV rest mass energy of up quark, the lowest-mass quark.
1 MeV0.1602 pJ, about twice the rest mass energy of an electron
1 to 10 keVapproximate thermal energy, kBT, in nuclear fusion systems, like the core of the sun, magnetically confined plasma, inertial confinement and nuclear weapons
13.6 eVthe energy required to ionize atomic hydrogen; molecular bond energies are on the order of 1 eV to 10 eV per bond
1.65 to 3.26 eVrange of photon energy of visible spectrum from red to violet
1.1 eVenergy required to break a covalent bond in silicon
720 meVenergy required to break a covalent bond in germanium
< 120 meVupper bound on the rest mass energy of neutrinos (sum of 3 flavors) [16]
38 meV average kinetic energy, 3/2 kBT, of one gas molecule at room temperature
25 meV thermal energy, kBT, at room temperature
230 μeV thermal energy, kBT, at the cosmic microwave background radiation temperature of ~2.7  kelvin

Molar energy

One mole of particles given 1 eV of energy each has approximately 96.5 kJ of energy – this corresponds to the Faraday constant (F96485 C⋅mol−1), where the energy in joules of n moles of particles each with energy E eV is equal to E·F·n.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fine-structure constant</span> Dimensionless number that quantifies the strength of the electromagnetic interaction

In physics, the fine-structure constant, also known as the Sommerfeld constant, commonly denoted by α, is a fundamental physical constant which quantifies the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepton</span> Class of elementary particles

In particle physics, a lepton is an elementary particle of half-integer spin that does not undergo strong interactions. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons, including the electron, muon, and tauon, and neutral leptons, better known as neutrinos. Charged leptons can combine with other particles to form various composite particles such as atoms and positronium, while neutrinos rarely interact with anything, and are consequently rarely observed. The best known of all leptons is the electron.

The Bohr radius is a physical constant, approximately equal to the most probable distance between the nucleus and the electron in a hydrogen atom in its ground state. It is named after Niels Bohr, due to its role in the Bohr model of an atom. Its value is 5.29177210544(82)×10−11 m.

The hartree, also known as the Hartree energy, is the unit of energy in the atomic units system, named after the British physicist Douglas Hartree. Its CODATA recommended value is Eh = 4.3597447222060(48)×10−18 J = 27.211386245981(30) eV.

In atomic physics, the Bohr magneton is a physical constant and the natural unit for expressing the magnetic moment of an electron caused by its orbital or spin angular momentum. In SI units, the Bohr magneton is defined as and in the Gaussian CGS units as where

In spectroscopy, the Rydberg constant, symbol for heavy atoms or for hydrogen, named after the Swedish physicist Johannes Rydberg, is a physical constant relating to the electromagnetic spectra of an atom. The constant first arose as an empirical fitting parameter in the Rydberg formula for the hydrogen spectral series, but Niels Bohr later showed that its value could be calculated from more fundamental constants according to his model of the atom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutherford scattering experiments</span> Experiments proving existence of atomic nuclei

The Rutherford scattering experiments were a landmark series of experiments by which scientists learned that every atom has a nucleus where all of its positive charge and most of its mass is concentrated. They deduced this after measuring how an alpha particle beam is scattered when it strikes a thin metal foil. The experiments were performed between 1906 and 1913 by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden under the direction of Ernest Rutherford at the Physical Laboratories of the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W and Z bosons</span> Bosons that mediate the weak interaction

In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are
W+
,
W
, and
Z0
. The
W±
 bosons have either a positive or negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge and are each other's antiparticles. The
Z0
 boson is electrically neutral and is its own antiparticle. The three particles each have a spin of 1. The
W±
 bosons have a magnetic moment, but the
Z0
has none. All three of these particles are very short-lived, with a half-life of about 3×10−25 s. Their experimental discovery was pivotal in establishing what is now called the Standard Model of particle physics.

The word "mass" has two meanings in special relativity: invariant mass is an invariant quantity which is the same for all observers in all reference frames, while the relativistic mass is dependent on the velocity of the observer. According to the concept of mass–energy equivalence, invariant mass is equivalent to rest energy, while relativistic mass is equivalent to relativistic energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetic moment</span> Magnetic strength and orientation of an object that produces a magnetic field

In electromagnetism, the magnetic moment or magnetic dipole moment is the combination of strength and orientation of a magnet or other object or system that exerts a magnetic field. The magnetic dipole moment of an object determines the magnitude of torque the object experiences in a given magnetic field. When the same magnetic field is applied, objects with larger magnetic moments experience larger torques. The strength of this torque depends not only on the magnitude of the magnetic moment but also on its orientation relative to the direction of the magnetic field. Its direction points from the south pole to north pole of the magnet.

In physics, the gyromagnetic ratio of a particle or system is the ratio of its magnetic moment to its angular momentum, and it is often denoted by the symbol γ, gamma. Its SI unit is the radian per second per tesla (rad⋅s−1⋅T−1) or, equivalently, the coulomb per kilogram (C⋅kg−1).

The Compton wavelength is a quantum mechanical property of a particle, defined as the wavelength of a photon whose energy is the same as the rest energy of that particle. It was introduced by Arthur Compton in 1923 in his explanation of the scattering of photons by electrons.

In atomic physics, the electron magnetic moment, or more specifically the electron magnetic dipole moment, is the magnetic moment of an electron resulting from its intrinsic properties of spin and electric charge. The value of the electron magnetic moment is −9.2847646917(29)×10−24 J⋅T−1. In units of the Bohr magneton (μB), it is −1.00115965218059(13) μB, a value that was measured with a relative accuracy of 1.3×10−13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass-to-charge ratio</span> Physical quantity of interest in chemistry and electrodynamics

The mass-to-charge ratio (m/Q) is a physical quantity relating the mass (quantity of matter) and the electric charge of a given particle, expressed in units of kilograms per coulomb (kg/C). It is most widely used in the electrodynamics of charged particles, e.g. in electron optics and ion optics.

Plasma parameters define various characteristics of a plasma, an electrically conductive collection of charged and neutral particles of various species that responds collectively to electromagnetic forces. Such particle systems can be studied statistically, i.e., their behaviour can be described based on a limited number of global parameters instead of tracking each particle separately.

Energy is defined via work, so the SI unit of energy is the same as the unit of work – the joule (J), named in honour of James Prescott Joule and his experiments on the mechanical equivalent of heat. In slightly more fundamental terms, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton metre and, in terms of SI base units

A g-factor is a dimensionless quantity that characterizes the magnetic moment and angular momentum of an atom, a particle or the nucleus. It is the ratio of the magnetic moment of a particle to that expected of a classical particle of the same charge and angular momentum. In nuclear physics, the nuclear magneton replaces the classically expected magnetic moment in the definition. The two definitions coincide for the proton.

The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, denoted by , is a fundamental physical constant of foundational importance in quantum mechanics: a photon's energy is equal to its frequency multiplied by the Planck constant, and the wavelength of a matter wave equals the Planck constant divided by the associated particle momentum. The closely related reduced Planck constant, equal to and denoted is commonly used in quantum physics equations.

In particle physics, the electron mass is the mass of a stationary electron, also known as the invariant mass of the electron. It is one of the fundamental constants of physics. It has a value of about 9.109×10−31 kilograms or about 5.486×10−4 daltons, which has an energy-equivalent of about 8.187×10−14 joules or about 0.5110 MeV.

Photon energy is the energy carried by a single photon. The amount of energy is directly proportional to the photon's electromagnetic frequency and thus, equivalently, is inversely proportional to the wavelength. The higher the photon's frequency, the higher its energy. Equivalently, the longer the photon's wavelength, the lower its energy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "2022 CODATA Value: electron volt". The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. May 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  2. "2022 CODATA Value: elementary charge". The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. May 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  3. Barrow, J. D. (1983). "Natural Units Before Planck". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 24: 24. Bibcode:1983QJRAS..24...24B.
  4. Gron Tudor Jones. "Energy and momentum units in particle physics" (PDF). Indico.cern.ch. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  5. "Units in particle physics". Associate Teacher Institute Toolkit. Fermilab. 22 March 2002. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  6. "2022 CODATA Value: Planck constant in eV/Hz". The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. May 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  7. Molinaro, Marco (9 January 2006). ""What is Light?"" (PDF). University of California, Davis . IST 8A (Shedding Light on Life) - W06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  8. Elert, Glenn. "Electromagnetic Spectrum, The Physics Hypertextbook". hypertextbook.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
  9. "Definition of frequency bands on". Vlf.it. Archived from the original on 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  10. Lochner, Jim (11 February 1998). "Big Bang Energy". NASA . Help from: Kowitt, Mark; Corcoran, Mike; Garcia, Leonard. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  11. Baez, John (July 2012). "Open Questions in Physics". DESY . Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  12. "How Many Watts Does a Light Bulb Use?". EnergySage. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  13. "A growing astrophysical neutrino signal in IceCube now features a 2-PeV neutrino". 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-03-19.
  14. "Glossary". Compact Muon Solenoid . CERN. Electronvolt (eV). Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  15. ATLAS; CMS (26 March 2015). "Combined Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass in pp Collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS and CMS Experiments". Physical Review Letters. 114 (19): 191803. arXiv: 1503.07589 . Bibcode:2015PhRvL.114s1803A. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.191803 . PMID   26024162.
  16. Mertens, Susanne (2016). "Direct neutrino mass experiments". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 718 (2): 022013. arXiv: 1605.01579 . Bibcode:2016JPhCS.718b2013M. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/718/2/022013. S2CID   56355240.